An Inquiry Confirms a Massacre Of Jews by Poles in World War II

By STEVEN ERLANGER

Published: July 10, 2002

BERLIN, July 9—
Polish historians have concluded that a massacre of Jews during World War II in the little town of Jedwabne was carried out by Poles, not by the occupying Nazis.

While there were some German troops in the town, ''the role of Poles in this criminal act was decisive,'' Radoslaw Ignatiew, of the Polish Institute for National Remembrance, said today.

Mr. Ignatiew presented the conclusions of an inquiry that lasted nearly two years into the findings of a Polish-American historian, Jan T. Gross. He caused a storm in Poland when he wrote a book saying that Poles -- not the Nazis, as Polish official history had it -- had herded up to 1,600 local Jews into a barn and then burned them alive on July 10, 1941.

Twelve people were convicted by a Polish Communist court in 1949 of having aided the Germans in the killings. Mr. Ignatiew, who is also a prosecutor, said that despite the new findings, there was not enough evidence to bring new charges against anyone who might still be alive and that the case would be closed.

The findings, which have been eagerly awaited in Poland, were a vindication for Mr. Gross, who was born in Poland and whose book about Jedwabne, ''Neighbors,'' was harshly criticized by many Polish historians and church leaders.

War crimes investigators interviewed nearly 100 surviving witnesses to the massacre and gathered evidence including bones and bullets. Mr. Ignatiew said that on July 10, a village mob gathered in Jedwabne to take part in ''a planned crime of murdering Jewish residents.'' Germans helped herd Jews to the village marketplace, he said, ''but that was the extent of their active role.''

The Poles had regarded themselves as purely the victims of both Nazi and Soviet crimes, never as perpetrators, and the story of what happened in this region after Soviet troops withdrew before the invading Germans has shaken old assumptions.

A fifth of Poland's population died during the six-year war. Of 3.5 million Jews in Poland before World War II, about 3 million were killed in the Holocaust. About 20,000 live in the country today.

Numerous Jews in this region, around Bialystok, sided with the Soviets, and when the Red Army left, local Poles, encouraged by the Germans, took their revenge.

Mr. Ignatiew said that the role of the German troops had been important in encouraging the Poles to act. But the role of local Poles, he said, was ''decisive.''

Mr. Igantiew said that at least 40 Poles carried out the attack, though the number could be larger. He said, though, that Mr. Gross's estimate of 1,600 dead was improbably high.

Jewish leaders said the investigation had gone a long way toward rebuilding understanding between Jews and Poles.

The American rabbi who leads Warsaw's Jewish community, Michael Schudrich, said: ''This debate was about Poland dealing with its soul. And that test was passed.''